Lights-Out on the Shinkansen

On Friday, Hugo and I had to travel to Shizuoka which required riding three separate trains, one of which was the Shinkansen, better know as the "Bullet Train".  Japan built the first bullet train in the 1960's, and today it's many lines serve as a principle means of transport between many cities.  In a word, "Wow!"  Super fast, quiet, smooth and comfortable, this is a great way to travel,  See the video link below taken as we passed Mt. Fuji at 170 mph.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CwnwJecFw9M&feature=g-crec-u

On the return trip, we were approaching the station at Yokohama when the train suddenly went dark and we coasted slowly to a stop.  We sat in darkness for a few minutes when I asked Hugo if this was normal.  "No, this never happens", he said.  An announcement come shortly over the PA which Hugo translated for me.  A major earthquake had occurred and the train system was shut down as a precaution.  We sat in complete darkness except for some emergency lighting near the car exit for 15 more minutes during which we found news on the earthquake, a 7.3 magnitude "aftershock" from the massive 9.0 quake last year which damaged the Fukushima nuke plant had occurred off shore.  Buildings in Tokyo swayed violently, tsunami warnings were issued, but no serious damage was apparent.  Had we not been on the moving train, we surely would have felt this.  A few minutes later the lights came on, the train proceded on tis way, and 20 minutes later we emerged at Tokyo Station where everything was normal - just another day in Japan...

In the wake of last year's earthquake, my company's Tokyo office has updated their emergency planning.  The office now stocks 2 days worth of water and food, plus has blankets and a heat source to accomodate the entire staff.  Senior Managers are required to carry satelite phones at all times - the cell phone system completely crashed during the 3/11 quake.  All of this is necessary as during the 3/11 quake, the Tokyo train system shut down and many people were stranded for days.  These measures are apparently common practice now for Japanese businesses.

One more picture from Mt. Fuji